August hog futures jump on weather risk

Posted on July 22, 2019

Pork Profit Maximizer – Retail Edition

July 22, 2019

We have raised our forward projections for hog and pork prices given the higher upside risk from weather conditions currently affecting hog producing regions and renewed speculation about export demand from China. We continue to note that the current environment is highly speculative. On the positive side, cash hog prices were higher this week and packers were forced to reduce hours in order to match production with available supplies. The production cuts caused hog slaughter to dip below year-ago levels and the pork cutout moved higher as a result. Will these gains be sustained into August and then into the fall? The trend in hog carcass weights will be an important indicator.